Lab Animal Medicine Club

Officers

The officers and members of the Laboratory Animal Medicine Club are proud of their decision to act as advocates for the wellbeing of laboratory animals while also facilitating medical research that has the potential to improve the lives of every animal, including humans. Laboratory Animal Veterinarians adhere to the principles of the "three R's" because it is the ethical approach, because it provides the highest quality of research, and because it is mandated by law. What are the three R's?

Reduce the number of animals used as much as possible while still obtaining statistically meaningful results

Refine the procedures being used, in order to make them less invasive, less painful, and less disruptive of animal wellbeing

Replace animals wtih non-animal alternatives where possible without reducing the quality of research.

Despite great advancements in computing and laboratory methods, the use of animal models remains an essential component of research and discovery. The biological systems in which physiological processes, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic interventions operate are extremely complex, and many of their components remain unknown. As long as animals remain an essential part of medical research, there will also be a need for responsible and ethical advocates for those animals. This is the role of laboratory animal veterinarians.

There are people who do not value biomedical research, or who feel that all animals deserve the same rights as human beings. A small subset of these people are willing to harm human beings involved in any kind of animal research. These people have carried out and continue to commit acts of domestic terrorism and violence to achieve their ends, and they organize campaigns of harrassment against those involved in lab animal research in any capacity. Unfortunately, this means that lab animal vets, regardless of the value of their research or their standards of care, are always in danger of harrassment or harm.

For this reason, we have chosen not to display the names of our lab animal officers online.